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Last night (Thursday 4th September), Cleveland's Road Policing Unit took part again in a national operation specifically aimed at checking goods vehicles. Operation Mermaid is a joint operation involving UK Police Forces, the Department of Transport, VOSA, the HSE, HM Revenue and Customs, Trading Standards and the DVLA. HGVs - including foreign registered vehicles - were pulled into the lay-by on Haverton Hill Road in Stockton between 10pm last night and 2am this morning and they and their drivers were checked for roadworthiness, and for any evidence of being involved in criminal or immigration offences. In all 27 goods vehicles were stopped last night. Four were prohibited from moving until arrangements had been made for repairs, with brake faults and insecure equipment being amongst the defects found. Acting Inspector Gary Hatton of the Road Policing Unit said: "The purpose of Operation Mermaid is two-fold - firstly to identify HGVs which are in a potentially dangerous condition and which could therefore pose a risk to other road users. "Checking vehicles and their occupants for evidence of criminal activity can bring many offences to light; in the past we've discovered stolen plant machinery, illegal immigrants and a whole host of driving and document offences. "The other side to the operation is intelligence gathering on vehicles which could be used in terrorist activity. Although there is no specific intelligence of such activity in our area, we want to reassure the public that we are making every effort possible to ensure our neighbourhoods are safe and that we are doing all we can to counter the threat of terrorism. "We will use this operation to gather intelligence and give out the message that vehicles used for this purpose will be stopped in Cleveland." http://www.cleveland.police.uk/ |
